Boxee media center software adds Netflix, The Big Picture support

Boxee, the free XBMC-based media center system for Linux, Windows, Mac, and Apple TV has released a new system update that adds lots of great new features, including a custom Netflix Instant streaming client.

The good news: their hand-written Netflix client looks even better than the official ones available on the Roku or Xbox 360. The bad news: it only works on the Windows or Mac versions of Boxee and not on Linux or the Apple TV versions. (I run Boxee on the Apple TV, so no luck for me. Good thing I have both a Roku and an Xbox 360!)

But in addition to better Hulu, YouTube, CNN, Flickr, Picasa, MTV Music, the WB, and Apple Movie Trailers support, Boxee has one new feature that makes me very proud: the addition of a built-in viewer for the Boston Globe‘s “The Big Picture“, the best current events photoblog in the world. [pictured]

Boxee is still invite-only for now, but if you’ve been accepted into the beta there’s no reason not to update immediately.

Then it’s in the spam folder, TechDeviant.
Netflix recently opened a beta version of Microsoft Silverlight for Intel Macs, enabling Mac users to “Watch Now.” For the most part, it works brilliantly for me, but having a Front Row or Plex-like interface (Boxee looks superb, I wait anxiously for my invitation) is preferable when surfing from the couch.

Unfortunately it seems like you have to only use their beta version OR the normal one, which I’m not going to do. We have a windows box hooked up to the TV, so I can generally watch the streaming content just fine [and I would much prefer not to break that setup with some beta software].